Editing Battle of Champaubert (section)

===French offensive===
[[File:Campaign of 1814 Map 10 Feb.png|thumb|right|upright=2.1|alt=Black and yellow map of the Campaign of 1814 in 1:2,000,000 scale with troop positions added|Napoleon attacks Olsufiev's isolated corps on 10 February 1814.]]

Napoleon left 39,000 troops to contain Schwarzenberg's Army of Bohemia. The formations were Oudinot's VII Corps, Marshal [[Claude Perrin Victor]]'s [[II Corps (Grande Armée)|II Corps]], [[Étienne Maurice Gérard]]'s Reserve of Paris, [[Henri Rottembourg]]'s Young Guard infantry division, Milhaud's V Cavalry Corps and smaller units. Napoleon's striking force numbered about 20,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 horsemen.{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=53}} Another authority agreed that the French army numbered 30,000 men and added that it was supported by 120 guns.{{sfn|Chandler|1979|p=87}} The army was formed by Marshal [[Michel Ney]]'s two Young Guard infantry divisions, Marmont's [[VI Corps (Grande Armée)|VI Corps]], part of the [[Imperial Guard (Napoleon I)|Imperial Guard]] cavalry, I Cavalry Corps and Defrance's cavalry division. Bringing up the rear at Nogent was Marshal [[Édouard Mortier, duc de Trévise]] with two Old Guard infantry divisions.{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=53}}

On 9 February, MacDonald slipped across the Marne at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, just ahead of Sacken.{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=55}} That day, Kaptzevich and Kleist rendezvoused with Blücher at Vertus, Olsufiev marched west to [[Champaubert]], Sacken reached La Ferté-sous-Jouarre and Yorck was at [[Château-Thierry]]. According to [[Karl Freiherr von Müffling]] of Blücher's staff, the Army of Silesia counted 57,000 men, including Sacken's 20,000, Yorck's 18,000 and Kaptzevich, Olsufiev and Kleist with a combined 19,000. Marmont's cavalry advance guard appeared at [[Talus-Saint-Prix]] on the [[Petit Morin]] River. Because the horsemen soon withdrew, Blücher's [[chief of staff]] [[August Neidhardt von Gneisenau]] believed they represented no danger. When Schwarzenberg asked the Prussian field marshal to support his right flank corps under [[Peter Wittgenstein]], Blücher ordered Kaptzevich and Kleist to march southwest to Sézanne the next day. Olsufiev was ordered to march south from Champaubert. That night, Blücher finally received news that Napoleon was at Sézanne.{{sfn|Petre|1994|pp=56–57}} Nevertheless, Gneisenau authorized Sacken to continue the pursuit of MacDonald to the west.{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=58}}

Napoleon's soldiers plodded along roads deep in mud from days of rain. The men had to suffer hunger pangs when the provision wagons failed to turn up. The bogged artillery was only brought forward when the rural inhabitants in large numbers helped haul the guns through the mud. At first the French population had resigned itself to the Allied invasion, but after suffering at the hands of the Russians and Prussians, the people were eager to assist the army.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|p=969}} On 10 February, as Blücher accompanied the column of Kaptzevich and Kleist while it marched toward Sézanne, the sound of artillery began to rumble ominously to the right near Champaubert.{{sfn|Petre|1994|p=58}}